NIU
to purchase Monsanto property
University
to establish 'health campus'
on busy Route 23 corridor
 NIU's
Board of Trustees approved Wednesday, Feb. 16, the purchase for
$6 million of the Monsanto property at Route 23 and Bethany Road
in unincorporated DeKalb County for the establishment of a new
family health and learning center.
Board members
agreed to a contract including $4 million for the purchase of
the buildings and land, and $2 million for existing furnishings
and equipments in the facility. In addition to approving the purchase,
trustees heard about plans to establish the NIU Family Health,
Wellness and Literacy Center at the Monsanto site.
NIU President
John Peters told the board that NIU has received some $8.4 million
in federal appropriations to fund remodeling of the building,
as well as the purchase of existing furnishings and equipment
and specialized, health-related equipment for the new center.
NIU will fund the $4 million property purchase through a combination
of bank financing and funds generated through revenue bonds and
debt restructuring.
Anchoring
the new center will be three well-known university programs: The
NIU Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic, The NIU Reading Clinic,
and the NIU Physical Therapy Clinic. All three centers serve children
and families from the DeKalb/Sycamore area and beyond, and all
three are struggling to meet increasing demand in very limited
on-campus spaces.
FULL
STORY
Liberace
Jazztet to play NYC  Like
any good musicians, the six members of the NIU Liberace Jazztet
can communicate without words.
Like superior
musicians, they barely need their eyes.
During a Friday
afternoon rehearsal, tenor saxophonist Mark Johnson is deep into
a solo when drummer Iajhi Hampden suddenly – and drastically –
alters his timekeeping enough for Johnson to look up. The others
are waiting to solo.
Several minutes
later, after solos from trumpeter Ralph DiSylvestro, alto saxophonist
Benny Hill, pianist Sean Higgins, doghouse bassist Josh Ramos
and Hampden himself, the rotation starts again. The second round
of solos is shorter, with Hampden filling the gaps between each
of his bandmates’ improvs.
The tune ends
after another pass at the chart’s head and a coda featuring more
licks from composer Higgins.
Ron Carter,
director of jazz studies at NIU, likes what he has heard.
FULL
STORY
NIU
announces 2005 recipients
of SPS Presidential Awards for Excellence  Four
members of the Supportive Professional Staff (SPS) have been chosen
to receive the university’s Presidential Awards for Excellence.
The recipients
are Joanne Dempsey, president and executive director
of the Illinois Council on Economic Education; J. Daniel
House, director of the Office of Institutional Research;
Lori Marcellus, director of undergraduate studies
in the College of Business; and Judy Skorek,
assistant director of the Women’s Resource Center.
They will
be honored at a reception from 2 to 4 p.m. Tuesday, March 29,
in the Clara Sperling Sky Room in the Holmes Student Center. The
awards ceremony begins at 2:30 p.m. Each will receive a plaque
and $1,500 in appreciation for their outstanding contributions
to NIU.
Additionally,
the Gary Gray Award will be presented to Deborah Haliczer,
director of employee relations in Human Resource Services. The
award, based on service to the SPS Council, honors the late Gary
Gray, a past member of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
advising staff and the SPS Council.
FULL
STORY
Bose
named to board of state diversity program  Rathindra
Bose, NIU vice president for research and dean of the Graduate
School, has been appointed to a board of educators charged with
oversight of the state’s Diversifying Higher Education Faculty
in Illinois Program (DFI).
Created last
August, the program combines two state fellowship programs – the
Illinois Consortium for Educational Opportunities Program and
the Illinois Minority Graduate Internship Program – into one program
under the direction of a single board.
The 21-member
program board will be responsible for developing policies and
strategies to enhance the diversity of faculty and staff at Illinois
institutions of higher education, including community colleges
and doctoral-granting institutions.
“Improving
diversity among the faculty and graduate students is an area in
which I have always been interested,” Bose said, “and I think
I can make a contribution or two to help move things in the right
direction.”
FULL
STORY
NIU
seeks new assessment coordinator  NIU
is looking for a new assessment coordinator.
Virginia Cassidy,
associate vice provost for academic planning and development,
said advertisements were placed in the Chicago Tribune online
and the Chronicle of Higher Education, and members of a search
committee already have received some applications.
They hope
to fill the position by May.
FULL
STORY
History
chair wins prestigious book prize  A
new book penned by Kenton Clymer, chair of the NIU Department
of History, has won the prestigious Robert H. Ferrell Book Prize
for distinguished scholarship in the history of American foreign
relations.
Clymer conducted
research on three continents over the course of 11 years for the
two-volume work, titled “The United States and Cambodia, 1870-2000”
(Routledge, 2004).
The Ferrell
Book Prize was established to honor Robert H. Ferrell, professor
of diplomatic history at Indiana University from 1961 to 1990.
It carries a cash award of $2,500. The prize will be awarded to
Clymer at an April 2 luncheon of the Society for Historians of
American Foreign Relations.
Judges praised
his work as a critical account of an important relationship little
studied by historians.
FULL
STORY
NIU’s
annual Empty Bowls fundraiser
to benefit Hope Haven shelter  The
seventh annual “Empty Bowls” project is scheduled from 11 a.m.
to 2 p.m. Friday, March 25, in the Chandelier Dining Room, 143
Adams Hall. Reservations are required.
A donation
of $15 buys all-you-can-eat homemade soup and bread, a beverage
and, while supplies last, a ceramic bowl hand-crafted by an NIU
art student. A donation of $10 buys food and drink only. Additional
donations are welcome.
All proceeds
benefit the Hope Haven shelter in DeKalb.
The menu includes
broccoli-cheddar soup, minestrone soup and beef vegetable soup
with sputsa (dumplings). Guests also can munch a variety of breads
donated by Panera Bread. Beverages include coffee, iced tea and
water.
FULL
STORY
Twenty-five
events highlight
Women’s History Month  NIU
will celebrate Women’s History Month in March with 25 events highlighting
the 2005 theme of “Body Waves.”
“The theme
captures the growing debate among feminists about the role of
body display in our society and the differing feminist perspectives
over the importance of appearance,” said Amy Levin, a professor
of English who serves as director of the NIU Women’s Studies Program.
A number of
speakers and activities planned for Women’s History Month will
focus on issues related to body image.
FULL
STORY
Carnegie
Museum paleontologist to lecture at NIU  Christopher
Beard, one of the country’s top paleontologists and a winner of
the coveted MacArthur Fellowship, will visit NIU for two public
lectures.
Beard serves
as a curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Carnegie Museum
of Natural History in Pittsburgh. He will deliver his first lecture,
titled “The Hunt for the Dawn Monkey: Unearthing the Origins of
Monkeys, Apes and Humans,” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 8, in Room
204 of DuSable Hall.
Beard also
will lecture on “Biogeography and Early Primate Evolution” at
11:30 a.m. Wednesday, March 9, in Room 206 of the Stevens Building.
FULL
STORY
Kudos
 Read
good news about – and send congratulations to – Barbara Berg,
business manager for the NIU Press.
FULL
STORY
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Nominations
sought for
outstanding graduate TAs
NIU’s Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center is
seeking nominations for the 2005 Outstanding Graduate Teaching
Assistant Awards. Nominations are due Tuesday, March 1.
These awards acknowledge and recognize outstanding
graduate teaching assistants for their contributions to the teaching
mission of NIU. Each recipient of the award will be presented
with a plaque and recognized at a reception held at the end of
the spring semester.
To be eligible for this award, each candidate
must be enrolled as a graduate student in good standing at NIU
during the semester the award nominations are due, have been employed
as a graduate teaching assistant for at least two complete semesters
(excluding the semester of nomination) during the past two years
at NIU, have been responsible for teaching a course fully or teaching-related
support that involved student contact as part of the graduate
teaching assistant employment, and have not previously received
this award at NIU.
Each academic or academic support unit that employs
graduate TAs for teaching and related activities is invited to
nominate one outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant from its
department for the award.
Nominations submitted to the Faculty Development
and Instructional Design Center must include supporting documents
to be considered for the award. The nominations can be submitted
by the head of the unit or designee, and each nomination should
include five hardcopies of the following:
-
Nominee information - name, degree and major,
phone, and email address, department where graduate teaching
assistantship was/is held, semesters and years employed as
a GTA in that department, course(s) responsible for as a GTA,
and responsibilities handled (primary responsibilities for
teaching, tutoring, recitation, lab development/supervision,
etc.).
-
Nominator information - name, title, department,
phone, email address, how long have known the nominee, and
in what capacity related to the nominee’s GTA responsibilities.
-
Reasons for nomination – explain the nominee’s
outstanding contributions as a GTA at NIU, impact on the course(s)
handled by the nominee, efforts made by the nominee to improve
teaching by participating in TA development programs, etc.
-
Supporting documents – evidence of outstanding
teaching or related support, such as student evaluations,
reviews by supervisors, department/college recognition, etc.
A subcommittee of the Faculty Development Advisory
Committee will review the nominations and select the recipients
of the award. The committee may invite additional members including
graduate teaching assistants to participate in the selection process
and may request additional information or clarifications from
the nominees or nominators.
Call 753-0614 for more information.
Yale professor
to speak
on ‘The Maya Body’
What constitutes perfection in human appearance?
What are the models for the ideal man and woman?
Yale University art professor Mary Miller will
speak Wednesday, March 2, at Northern Illinois University on the
nature of human representation among first-millennium Maya.
The lecture will take place from 5:30 to 6:30
p.m. in Room 100 of the Visual Arts Building (Jack Arends Hall).
For information, call 753-8366.
Miller, who is the Vincent Scully Professor of
the Department of the History of Art and the Master of Saybrook
College, will consider the relationship of pictorial representation
and the development of narrative in Maya art of the period, particularly
as it takes place on painted ceramic vessels and 8th century sculpture
and monumental painting.
Particularly spectacular developments, such as
the portraiture of Palenque and the elaborate mural paintings
of Bonampak, also will be considered.
Miller most recently served as the guest curator
for “The Courtly Art of the Ancient Maya,” a highly acclaimed
exhibition of Maya art that took place in 2004 at the National
Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Fine Arts Museums
of San Francisco.
Bullying
support group
continues through May
Anyone experiencing or witnessing abuse in the
workplace or at home are invited to join a safe and confidential
support group offered through the Women’s Resource Center.
The group meets from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesdays
through May 11 in the Douglas Room on the second floor of the
Holmes Student Center. Participants will find personal and educational
support for dealing with repeated emotional, verbal and physical
abuse.
Call 753-0320 for more information.
Trio
to discuss
U.S. presence in Iraq
Three experts will explore “Stuck in Iraq – Withdraw
or ‘Stay the Course?’ ” during a 7 p.m. Thursday, March 3, panel
discussion in the Lincoln Room of the Holmes Student Center.
Panelists will discuss the question from a variety
of perspectives. Lyle Sykora will explore the consequences of
the U.S. either staying in Iraq or leaving. Retired NIU history
Professor Al Resis will address the topic of “Iraq: the Way Out.”
IU History Professor Jim Schmidt will put U.S. involvement in
Iraq in its historical context in terms of U.S. foreign policy.
Sponsors of the panel include the Northern Coalition
for Peace & Justice and the DeKalb Interfaith Network for
Peace & Justice.
Nominations
sought for
Eychaner Award
The NIU Presidential Commission on Sexual Orientation
and Gender Identity (PCSOGI) and Prism of NIU are seeking nominations
for the Eychaner Award, which is presented annually to recognize
individuals affiliated with NIU who have demonstrated outstanding
leadership and service on behalf of the lesbian, gay, bisexual
and/or transgender community.
The award is presented in two categories, one
recognizing contributions made by an NIU student and one recognizing
the contributions of a faculty or staff member or an NIU alumnus/a.
A full description of the award, including eligibility
and nomination guidelines, is available online here.
The Web page also includes a list of past recipients and a printable
nomination form.
The deadline is noon Friday, March 25.
Nomination forms also are available at the LGBT
Resource Center, Holmes Student Center, 7th Floor. For questions,
contact Margie Cook, LGBT director, at 753-LGBT(5428) or lgbt@niu.edu.
University
Bookstore
to close for inventory
The University Bookstore will close for inventory
from Monday, March 14, through Wednesday, March 16. Regular store
hours will resume Thursday, March 17.
World
renowned clarinetist
to perform at Cornucopia
Music lovers in the northern Illinois area have
a chance to hear one of Europe’s finest musicians at 3 p.m. Sunday,
March 20, in the Music Building at Northern Illinois University.
Karl Leister, world renowned clarinetist, will
perform the works of Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms and Allgulin.
Leister was principal clarinetist with the Berlin Philharmonic
Orchestra for 35 years, and has performed as a soloist and chamber
musician with many of the leading musicians and conductors of
our time.
Leister will be at NIU the weekend of March 19
and 20 as the featured artist at the annual Clarinet Cornucopia.
He will conduct a master class at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 19.
Other features of the 2005 Clarinet Cornucopia
include a talk on German romantic music by NIU music historian
Brian Hart, a participants’ clarinet choir that rehearses and
performs March 19, and a clarinet vendor display.
Now in its fourth year, Clarinet Cornucopia is
organized by NIU clarinet professor Gregory Barrett. Barrett performs
with the Ars Viva Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Sinfonietta,
and has performed chamber works in Vienna’s Musikverein.
All events take place in the NIU Music Building.
The cost to attend Clarinet Cornucopia is $40
before Friday, March 4; this fee includes the cost of a ticket
to the March 20 Leister performance. Individual tickets for the
concert are $10 if ordered before March 4. All prices increase
after March 4. There are group discounts for five or more people
who register at the same time.
For more information about the Clarinet Cornucopia,
contact Renee Page, Office of External Programs, College of Visual
and Performing Arts, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL
60115, or call 753-1450.
More information is available at www.niu.edu/extprograms.
NIU
hosts LSAT workshops
The LSAT (Law School Admission Test) is required
by all College of Law programs. The next administration of the
LSAT is June 6. Test takers receive scores on verbal and writing
portions of the test. The review segments include reading comprehension,
logical reasoning, analytical reasoning and writing sample.
The first session of the workshop will be Saturday,
April 23, and will run for four sessions, through Saturday, May
7, at the Holmes Student Center.
The fee for the refresher workshop is $495. Full-time
students or recent NIU alumni pay $395. The fee is $445 or $345
if registered by April 15.
For information on the program, call 753-5200,
e-mail LASEP@niu.edu or click
here. To register, call
NIU Outreach at 753-0277, toll free at 1-800-345-9472 or click
here.
NIU also offers review courses for the GRE, GMAT,
ACT and the SAT in classroom formats as well as online.
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